Gendarmes harass family of cartoonist living in France

Reporters Without Borders today said it was stunned by the almost “surreal” way the Moroccan gendarmerie has been harassing the family of cartoonist Khalid Gueddar, who currently lives in France. Gendarmes visited his family in Ain Aouda (40 km outside Rabat) five times on 2 November requesting information about his activities. “These attempts to pressure Gueddar's family are becoming grotesque,” the press freedom organisation said. “This could be a source of amusement except that the invasion of their lives is a form of harassment and intimidation that we firmly condemn.” Gueddar draws cartoons for such media as the Madrid-based El Mundo newspaper and the satirical website Bakchich.info, but the gendarmerie's attempts at intimidation were apparently prompted by a cartoon in the 19 October issue of the weekly Courrier International that accompanied an article by journalist Ali Lmrabet questioning the political will of the Moroccan authorities to stamp out drug trafficking. As well as the repeated visits, the gendarmes also asked Gueddar's brother to give them the official family record book without offering any valid explanation for their request. Gueddar is well known in Morocco for his satirical cartoons. He used to be the cartoonist of the Moroccan weekly Demain Magazine until it was banned and its editor, Lmrabet, was sentenced to three years in prison in June 2003.